When Westmount Mayor Christina Smith was campaigning in last fall’s municipal election, one of the most common issues residents raised was the noise and pollution from leaf blowers, the kind that landscapers wear on their backs to blast away leaves, grass and dirt.

But now some say Smith’s plan to ban gas-powered leaf blowers as early as this spring, and gas-powered lawn mowers next spring, is too much, too soon.

Landscaping companies say they will have to scramble to buy expensive new electric equipment if the new rules are adopted in council next month to be implemented this spring.

“It all comes down to how much time we spend at a house and how much the client ends up paying,” said J.P. Fulginiti, owner of Westmount Landscaping.

His company has property maintenance contracts with the owners of about 130 private homes in Westmount, as well as a couple of large commercial properties. The ban on gas-powered leaf blowers will only apply to properties smaller than 20,000 square feet, but that describes most of the private properties his company maintains, Fulginiti said.

Fulginiti acknowledges that electric leaf blowers are quieter and less polluting than gas-powered machines. But those on the market now for commercial use are not as powerful as gas-powered machines, so they don’t do as thorough or as quick of a job, he said.

“They have battery-operated leaf blowers, but they are hand-held,” he said. “The technology for commercial use is still not there. Can you imagine trying to blow a big backyard? This is Westmount, where they have these huge maple trees every 50 feet or so … there’s a lot of leaves. Can you imagine blowing a backyard where you have six inches of leaves with a little hand-held blower. It just won’t do the job.

“For spring cleanup, we blow the driveways, we blow the walkways, we blow the patios, we blow the lawns. Every square inch of the lawn gets blown … We can’t do it all by hand. It will take forever. Spring cleanup would end up taking a month instead of a week.”

If the city bans all gas-powered landscaping equipment, he estimates his company will have to invest about $20,000 for new lawn mowers, leaf blowers and batteries as well as a closed trailer to protect electric equipment from rain.

“The important thing is that the residents of Westmount are well aware that if this does get implemented, there will be a substantial increase on the monthly maintenance fee,” he said. “I mean, it will make my life harder, my job longer, but I mean, I got kids to feed, you know what I mean, so eventually (the extra cost) will be passed down.”

But Smith said hundreds of North American municipalities are moving to limit use of this noisy and polluting equipment and she is not about to back down.

While residents seem concerned primarily about the noise, gas-powered gardening equipment is also a significant air-pollution issue that a lot of municipalities are becoming concerned about, she said.

The California Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that operating a commercial leaf blower for one hour emits more pollution than driving a 2016 Toyota Camry for about 1,100 miles. The machines’ emit carbon monoxide, particulate matter and other substances that are harmful to human health.

She said she understands the landscaping companies’ concerns about costs and will be reaching out to them for a meeting to discuss whether her draft bylaw’s April 1 implementation date is too soon.

“I will certainly reach out to them and sit down and talk about timing, but the ultimate goal is that we end up with electrification of this equipment.

“Maybe I was moving too fast, but it is the direction we are going in. I’m open to talking about timing, and we can try to find some common ground on this. But I’m not going to completely walk away from this. ”

Paul Marriott, president of the Westmount Municipal Association, said Smith is right that many Westmount residents are fed up with the incessant noise from leaf blowers. But he suggested the city start by enforcing current bylaws.

“Westmount has had regulations on the noise level that leaf blowers can make for the past several years, but they don’t enforce them. So, all the contractors are supposed to be equipped with leaf blowers of a certain maximum decibel level, but I know many of them (ignore that rule). And already contractors are using leaf blowers outside of the described period. Enforcement is difficult because you have to catch them in the act. And also, contractors get fined time and again and just continue to use them anyway.”

He said most homeowners who maintain their own properties tend to use hand-held electric leaf blowers or rakes.

“I tend to rake the leaves and leave them on the garden, anyway, because it’s good for the garden,” he said.

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